So who is responsible....

..... For the filtered face plate on a new BT NTE5 fitted by a BT engineer ? Friend of mine recently had some work done to his phone line which resulted in the fitting of a new NTE5 with the filtered faceplate.

Recently he lost his internet, having spoken to his ISP, he removed the faceplate plugged in a filter reconnected the router and all worked fine.

The ISP has told him the filter is his problem as it's classed as the customers equipment, and they have refused to take any responsibility.

Are they within their rights?

I don't think that is a new filtered faceplate fitted by a BT engineer. I believe they fit interstitial ones aka the FTTC VDSL2 ones these days.

But wherever it came from a simple warranty claim against the supplier of it seems appropriate.

Edited by RobertoS (Fri 30-Aug-13 22:59:39)

I thought that was the case. However my friend swears this is what the BT Engineer fitted. I suggested he buy another they're cheap enough.

I was more interested in the, "It's the customers equipment." statement. Thanks Bob.

Edited by wingco1 (Fri 30-Aug-13 23:13:22)

Is that an exact match picture wise?

Openreach use different designs
The right hand one in http://www.thinkbroadband.com/images/iplate/bt-adsl-...
And
http://www.coolwebhome.co.uk/faceplate/

The ISP needs a wake-up call. If we accept it was fitted by Openreach, it will still have a warranty and have to be of merchantable quality.

If it is the same type as they fit on VDSL (FTTC) installs then it should have a 12mth warranty,As the faceplate forms part of the NTE then it should be BTOR's part of the ship to at least supply a replacement faceplate should it fail in that 12mths period,
As for contacting the manufacturer good luck on that one, as you didn't buy it from them BTOR did any contract as such would lie with the ISP , as it is they who have a contract with BTOR for supplying the BB, So they should

1, contact BT openreach and inform them of the faulty filtered faceplate, asking them to replace it, or report it to OR as a fault any reasonable engineer shouldn't make out a report that would lead to the isp being charged

2 Send out a replacement filter themselves to the customer ,or offer to re emburse the cost to of the customer buying a replacement, but this could give rise to further issues requiring an engineers visit,(should customer not be able to complete the task properly)

Edited by tommy45 (Fri 30-Aug-13 23:34:45)

Back to your OP.

If the faceplate was fitted by an engineer acting on behalf of the line rental CP, not the broadband ISP, then it is the line rental company's problem. Not the ISP's.

In reply to a post by wingco1:

The ISP has told him the filter is his problem as it's classed as the customers equipment, and they have refused to take any responsibility.

If it was the ISP who called out the BT OR eng, then it the ISP that that is responsible as your contract is with them and they supplied, via a subcontractor, a faulty part.

As for it being customer's equipment, it is no diff from buying a phone handset, customer's equipment, from BT and finding it faulty when first used.

You have no contract or contact with BT OR, so no point in trying to contact them.

Anyway, you don't really need a filtered faceplate, except cosmetically. Just use a dangly filter, as I have been doing since an eng, unnecessarily called out by ISP, fitted unasked a hissy BT V1.0 filtered faceplate.

Edited by XRaySpeX (Sat 31-Aug-13 03:20:03)

In theory I have to agree.

However - the practical steps to try to get it replaced (time spent on the phone, phone call costs, possible engineer visit to wait for etc.) are really not going to be worth jumping through. It would cost less and take less time to just order a new one online. Several places sell the genuine BT xDSL faceplate online.

Indeed . I was explaining why, unless the engineer who fitted it was sent by the ISP, the user has nothing grumble about regarding the ISP.